1. Field of the Invention
In one embodiment, the invention relates to a flexible, sterile, sealable or sealed and at least partially or completely disposable vessel for performing any or all of mixing, heating, cooling, filtering, separating, forming cakes, drying, fermenting, blending powders, reacting chemicals and storing, which can be done with or without a gaseous head. Such vessels may be used (or, in some cases, re-used) as (1) a storage container optionally with heating/cooling with the optional application of mixing; or (2) a small flexible mixer that can be actuated by hand, in mechanical situations as needed, such as in mixing paint. In other embodiments, the invention relates to apparatus and method for mixing and/or dispensing pigments/dyestuffs into highly viscous materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
Improving processes to make various chemical compounds, such as powder, is a major focus of the pharmaceutical industry. With the rising costs of the drugs and other products or chemicals, manufacturers of such items have looked to innovation and mass production to reduce the manufacturing costs and streamline processes. However, there continues to be the costs and attendant disadvantages of maintaining “clean rooms” so as to prevent the introduction of contaminants into the process as well as the need to protect workers with at least one of protective masks, suits, or other protection equipment because of the potential risk of exposure to the reactants and/or products of such processes. Additionally, cleaning and certification or validation of equipment and piping tends to greatly increase costs.
In addition, conventional chemical processing has used separate equipment to perform a single function, e.g., a mixing vessel is distinct from a reactor or filter. However, by the disclosed invention, it is possible to perform multiple unit operations of chemical processes in a single vessel.
Conventional manufacturing, mixing and/or stirring systems have been used in this type of industry for a considerable period of time. In a typical pharmaceutical powder production system for example, the various ingredients or components are introduced into an array of rigid vessels each of which perform some single function. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical process. Chemicals or components are introduced into a mixer 110 where they are mixed by a known method, e.g., a stirrer. The mixture is then transferred into one or more reactors 120, which causes a reaction of the components by heat, pressure, etc. and other components may be added as well. Following the reaction, the material is again transferred to a centrifuge 130 for separation of undesired material. Finally, the material is dried in a dryer 140 to remove liquid components and form the desired powder, which is again transferred to a storage location 150.
Another and more complicated system for a typical biopharmaceutical process is illustrated in FIG. 2. It generally has a similar step-by-step process as the process outlined above, but with more separated locations to perform certain processes. For example, the system has a pair of media mixers 200, a pair of fermenters 210, several filtration vessels 230, which may be microfiltration vessels, ultrafiltration vessels, sterile filtration vessels, etc., dialfiltration buffer vessels 240, and chromatography buffer vessels 250. Additionally, each of the vessels has at least a pair of ports for addition of other material as well as removal of waste material. The whole system yields a multitude of vessels for the production of a single desired material.
Other problems associated with these processes is with the multitude of vessels and transference means is the likelihood of leaks in the system, undesired material entering the system, material from a previous process remaining in the vessel which interferes with a subsequent process, etc.
When a large scale production is required, the glass beaker of laboratory scale may be replaced by a large metal vat or other conventional industrial vessel that also provides heating and cooling capacity. In either system, the components are sequentially or consecutively added to the vessel where the mixing and/or stirring is conducted. In such systems, a stirring device is generally inserted through the upper, open face of the container and powered from an external source. Additionally, reuse of the conventional system requires significant cleaning and sterilization processes to ensure the absence of undesirable materials. The associated costs of cleaning/sterilization and recertification of the equipment prior to reuse is a major disadvantage of the prior art avoided by the present inention.
Furthermore, the traditional beaker of the laboratory or the industrial vat mixing systems require intervention between the beaker and the mixing means, which can also introduce contaminants and render the process less efficient. Examples include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,635 and No. 4,114,522, each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Other designs require sophisticated manipulation of the vessel to mix the material contained therein by rocking the vessel about an axis, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,913. Still further designs require the user to mix the material by squeezing a flexible vessel, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,330. Other designs use passing a fluid through a mixing disk, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,868,495 and 6,447,158. Finally, others oscillate the mixing disk through the fluid, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,966,468 and 4,436,458. However, such mixing apparatus are rigid structures and do not effectively reduce the multitude of vessels require to perform a single process.
As a result of the streamlining of the process to make materials, the biopharmaceutical process industry needs technologies that use disposable manufacturing components versus stainless steel tanks and piping. An example of such a vessel is disclosed in the co-pending application U.S. Ser. No. 10/256,070 filed Sep. 27, 2002, which is assigned to the present assignee and is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. However, such methods and apparatus disclosed therein require the use of several disposable vessels for the production of a typical material.